One Man's Trash
by Nell McKeon
Summary: Outlaw Days - This was written for the challenge prompt "One Man's Trash...". Kid has identified a morale problem within the Devil's Hole Gang. Now it is up to Heyes to figure out how to solve it before the upcoming big job. A bit of outlaw fluff.


**One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure**

"Kyle's upset"

Heyes flicked his eyes up to momentarily rest on his partner standing on the other side of the leader's cabin's large table before returning his attention to the map before him.

"So?"

"So, that's got Wheat upset."

"Wheat's always got something to crab about."

"And it's got Lobo upset, and Preacher upset, and Hank upset, and …"

"Okay, Kid. I got it. The gang's upset."

"Everyone likes Kyle. If you can put up with the dirt, Kyle's a nice guy. He'll do anything for you. He's kinda like a pet."

Heyes, his attention still on the map where he was carefully using a ruler to measure the distance between pencil points, distractedly responded, "Uhm, so deal with it."

Kid Curry, the co-leader of the Devil's Hole Gang and the one responsible for the daily operations of Devil's Hole, especially in the period leading up to a big job, heaved a restrained sigh.

"I am dealing with it. That's why I'm talking to you."

"Okay, talk." Heyes scribbled some numbers on the pad beside the map.

Kid walked over to the stove, lifted the lid on the coffee pot and peered inside. After a moment of hesitation, he poured two cups. Curry placed one at Heyes' elbow before sitting down at the table across from his partner.

"Well, you know Kyle's birthday is at the end of next week. The boys normally take Kyle into Harristown to celebrate. Even the girls at Lottie's take pity on Kyle and show him a good time for his birthday."

Kid sipped at his coffee tentatively and grimaced. He got up from the table and retrieved the whiskey bottle from the cabinet and poured a healthy measure into his cup. Curry watched Heyes take an appreciative swallow of the unadulterated brew without pausing in his further perusal of the map before replacing the bottle without offering any to the absorbed leader of the gang. Kid sat back down.

"So, as I was sayin', Kyle's birthday is next week. But as we've been holed up here for the last three months 'cause of that pesky bounty hunter hangin' around and the job is planned for the week after next that leaves Kyle with no party."

"He can celebrate and hurrah after the job." Heyes started drawing arrows and circles on the map.

Kid idly watched Heyes for a while, sipping his doctored coffee. Heyes paused for a moment in his drawing and stared into space. Kid continued his report on Kyle.

"No party and no presents. Everyone likes presents on their birthday, especially Kyle. We haven't had a birthday celebration for any of the gang in a while. No one says they care but everyone knows Kyle cares. And I bet others do too but won't say anything 'cause it's not manly. No one's been able to get to town to buy anything. That makes people feel bad, Heyes. And when they feel bad they grumble. Yeah, once the job is over, things will be good but it's best to head into what we have planned with everyone at their best. I think we should plan a little party here. It won't be the same but at least Kyle'll feel special for a day."

"Good, good, you do that," muttered the busy robbery planner.

"Heyes, I'm talking to you but maybe I should say I need to talk with you."

"Huh?"

"Heyes, I need that genius brain of yours for just a few minutes. Pay attention!"

"What? I heard everything you said. Kyle's upset 'cause he ain't getting a birthday party. How old is he that he's upset about a party?"

"You might have heard it but you ain't listen'. Not just Kyle's upset. It's the whole gang. And you know, I'm not sure how old Kyle will be, older than me and probably you too. I know he's older than me since he thinks it's funny to call me a younglin' instead of Kid when he's had way too much to drink."

Heyes looked up in disbelief. "And you let him?"

Kid shrugged his shoulders and sheepishly answered, "Well, not exactly, I pretend I don't hear him. He's only done it a few times and I think it makes him feel better that I'm the youngest gang member. Besides, Kyle's hard to stay mad at." He straightened up, leaned across the table towards Heyes and continued, "I can get Hognose, who's the best cook around here to make a cake and somethin' special for dinner. Ain't no women but I can't do anything 'bout that. You can make sure Kyle wins at poker…"

"I don't cheat and I don't throw games," Heyes protested.

"Everyone knows you play honest poker but that doesn't mean you can't play a little less good on one night."

"Humph, why should I? He'll know anyway."

Kid gave his partner a steady measuring look, not backing down from the brown-eyed stare of affront from his partner. Heyes returned to studying his notes.

"Maybe. I'll think about it."

"Good, thanks. That leaves the problem of presents. The look-outs haven't reported seeing that bounty hunter around in a week or so. From the looks of things and what I can see of his tracks when I was out hunting last, he probably finally left and I'll keep checking. But, I know you don't want anyone leaving the Hole so close to the next job so what are we going to do about presents?"

Heyes once again looked up and stared at his partner. Kid was serious. He really was concerned about presents for a hardened gang of outlaws and not just any outlaws but the most successful gang of outlaws in the West. Outlaws that if they could wait two more weeks would have plenty of money to spend on whatever they wanted.

Heyes rubbed his chin, felt the stubble and realized maybe a little party to let off some unwanted excess energy prior to the upcoming train robbery might not be a bad idea.

"Let me think on it, Kid."

"Thanks, Heyes. You can go back to your final plannin' now."

Heyes and Kid entered the bunkhouse the next afternoon as the men were gathering after a day of maintenance work on the various buildings. The gang members were hot, tired, and somewhat surly when they greeted their leaders with grunts and nods.

Heyes walked towards the table as Kid leaned back against the door with his arms crossed, a small cloth sack hanging from his left hand, watching the room.

"Gather 'round boys, I've got something to say," announced Heyes in a no nonsense tone.

Backs slightly stiffened and expressions ranged from blank to belligerent on the Devil's Hole Gang men's faces but they quickly sat and stood around the bunkhouse table. Preacher glanced at Kid by the door, noticed the twinkle in the blue eyes and the slight tug at the mouth, indicating a suppressed grin and he relaxed back into his chair.

"Well men, it seems that Kyle is going to be missing his birthday celebration in Harristown next week. It also seems that we've missed a few birthdays this year. So, I'll tell you what we're going to do." Heyes announced in a booming voice.

"We're gonna have ourselves a gang birthday party next week, with Kyle as the extra special birthday boy. Presents for everyone! We can take a day off from non-essential chores, play poker for as long as you want and Hognose will make a birthday cake and cook something special, won't you Hognose?"

Hognose nodded, "Yep, I can do that Heyes, we got a nice smoked ham in the smokehouse, Kyle's favorite, some smoked fish too or venison from that deer Kid got and I can see what we got growin' out back that's ready for pickin'."

Kyle jumped up and slapped his best buddy Wheat on the back, "Whooee! See Wheat, I knew Heyes wouldn't forget. He was just foolin' me by pretendin' my celebration ain't important. Thanks Heyes, I always say you're the best ever leader. But what are we gonna do about presents? Kid won't let us go into town."

Heyes broke into a full-dimpled grin as his brown eyes shot over to the door and a brown head slightly inclined in gratitude as he met his partner's twinkling blues and wide smile.

"The Devil's Hole Gang is known for doing the impossible and being innovative and resourceful."

Kyle leaned over and whispered to Wheat, "What's innovative, it's good, right?"

Before Wheat had a chance to respond, Heyes continued, "So, we're going to be innovative, that is we're going to make something up that's new from something old for presents. The Kid put a box on the leader cabin's porch that everyone is going to put in a few old items that they don't want any more. Do that by tomorrow night. The rules are that Kid and I are going to step outside. You're going come out one at a time to draw a slip of paper with a man's name on it out of the sack the Kid has and I'll whisper it to you if you can't read my handwritin'. The name you draw is the person you have to make a present out of the things that are in the birthday stuff box on the porch. Keep the name to yourself so no one knows who is making whose present. You have to use at least one item from the box, and anything else you can find that no one is using or wants or is lying around the hole. That gives everyone a week to work on the present he's making. Any questions?"

A few men spoke up and Heyes answered their questions amiably. He could tell that the gang was initially hesitant, not sure of what to make of the idea but the enthusiasm was building. Men were smiling and laughing at a few outrageous or rude suggestions for homemade presents. Kyle was bouncing up and down in his chair.

"Come on Kid, let's go outside to get the show on the road." Kid turned around, opened the door and with a last look of satisfaction at the scene around the table, exited the bunkhouse. Heyes followed closely with Kyle's excited high-pitched insistence of "Me first" ringing in his ears.

Curry dragged the large box of the men's discarded trash items into the cabin and dumped the contents on the table to make sure nothing unsuitable or dangerous found their way into the material to be used for the presents. Kid was rummaging around the contents, pulling a few items off to the side.

"Well, anything good in there?" Heyes asked from across the room.

Kid looked over his shoulder. "It depends upon what you mean by good. There's a few tin cans of various sizes, a broken leather bridle, bits of latigo straps, leather pieces, a jar of buttons, a roll of string, an old shaving brush, some fairly nice feathers on a leather headband. I wonder where that came from," he laughed.

Heyes, his curiosity getting the better of him, sauntered over to join his partner. He picked up a dried-up corn cob in one hand and a ripped plaid shirt in another. "There certainly is a variety of stuff, isn't there?"

"Yep, these cards yours?" asked Curry, indicating a rubber-banded deck of well-worn pasteboards.

"Yeah, it's a few cards light. What did you contribute?"

Kid pointed to an old wooden comb, missing half its teeth and a large rounded belt buckle. "It should be fun to see what everyone makes with this old stuff, won't it?"

Heyes watched his partner look at each item on the table with delight, no matter how trivial it was, as if they were found treasures. Curry was really having fun, planning the party, meeting with Hognose over the menu, like he was some gent talking to the caterer. He had already arranged with Preacher for some home brew to supplement the limited amount of alcohol still in the Hole. Dutch, Hank and Quint were going to provide the music on a washboard, a makeshift drum and a string bass. Curry had even talked Heyes into playing a tune or two on the old guitar. Talk about Kyle, Heyes thought, Kid was really a big kid sometimes too, a real younglin'.

Heyes was chuckling to himself. He casually asked, "So, what name did you pull out of the sack?"

Curry has started to put the items back in the box, ready for the transformation from trash to treasure. He looked up, smirked, and answered, "I can't tell you, it's a secret."

"Come on Kid, you don't keep secrets from your partner. You can tell me."

"Nope, them's the rules. You made the rules, Heyes, not me." With that statement, Curry lifted the box and left the cabin to do his rounds after leaving the trash trove on the porch.

All the next week found men sneaking up to the porch and surreptitiously smuggling items from the trash present box away into parts unknown. For once, the chores were done quickly and efficiently with nary a complaint. The men used their squirreled away free time to work on their gifts. Heyes watched the gang's activity with a bemused eye. The satisfied leader of the gang silently congratulated himself on his scheme to keep the men occupied, out of trouble, and not letting unproductive energy and nervousness build before the coming complicated and somewhat riskier than usual train robbery plan. Kid Curry might have had something to say regarding Heyes assigning himself the credit for the birthday party but Kid was too busy to notice.

Finally, the day of the party arrived. The leader's cabin was hosting the party proper. The Kid, Quint and Lobo festooned the cabin with paper cutouts of presents strung on string. The dinner feast was the finest in the Hole that the men of Devil's Hole could remember in a long time. Preacher had even produced two cached, purloined bottles of wine to go with the dinner. The music along with the whiskey and shine would be kept for the night's poker game being held in the bunkhouse. Kyle's child-like wonder when the birthday cake was carried in, complete with a few candles, brought smiles to all of the hardened outlaws. Heyes plucked out a simple rendition of Happy Birthday on the slightly out of tune guitar while everyone sang an enthusiastic rendition of the song.

Wheat stood up, slid the birthday cake from the center of the table to right in front of Kyle. He fondly found the blue eyes of his best friend and warmly suggested, "Why don't you make a wish and blow them out, Kyle. Happy Birthday!"

Kyle looked around for a minute in confusion and not finding what he was looking for, spit his tobaccy into the glass before him. He took a great big breath and then blew with all his might, extinguishing the candles on the cake.

Heyes grimaced as he stared at the brown globs in one of the few nice glasses he and Kid owned.

Kid glanced at his partner beside him then leaned in to whisper, "It's better than all over the cake."

"Can't argue with that."

Everyone clapped and the cake was cut into pieces and passed out to each man. A beaming Kyle looked up hopefully at Heyes.

"You want something, Kyle?" Heyes asked innocently.

"Uhm, yes. I mean not just me but everyone. Everyone is gonna get a present, right Heyes. Can we have them now? Can we?"

"Kid, why don't you get the box of wrapped presents and we'll pass them out. It seems a birthday party isn't complete without the presents. Remember, no telling who made what. Unless, of course, we can't figure something out."

All eyes, in spite of themselves, watched the young blond notorious gunmen disappear into his room only to emerge moments later with a big box filled with presents wrapped in assorted materials and with various levels of skill.

Heyes reached in, read the writing on the wrinkled brown paper, tied with string and handed the gift to Lobo.

Lobo carefully unwrapped the present and held up a leather strip fashioned into a hat band, which had a spray of bristles and feathers artfully arranged on one side.

"Wow, this is a pretty nice hat band. It's as good as I could buy in town. Hey wait a minute. Are those the bristles from my old shaving brush?" Lobo looked pleased and somewhat surprised as he peered around the table, trying to figure out who to thank.

Wheat was already busy unwrapping his small package to uncover a wooden mustache comb, which he promptly used on his large luxuriant mustache. As Wheat preened, Kid thought to himself, whoever had Wheat was skilled in sizing his old head comb into a mustache one for Wheat.

Kid was handed a large, relatively heavy gift, covered by what looked like a stretched faded red long john leg tied at both ends with string. Curry laid one end on the table and untied the string as he pushed the material down. It revealed a long piece of sanded wood with hooks along the bottom and metal rings on the back with rope ties attached to the rings. A jar of buttons was stuffed into the bottom of the long john leg. Kid opened the jar with amusement and pulled out a few buttons. Each button was attached to a string of different lengths with a loop at one end. Kid held the wooden rack up, hung two of the buttons on the hooks and laughed.

"They're targets. The buttons are targets. That's pretty clever. Thanks, it will be fun to practice with this," Curry stated with genuine pleasure.

The next gift was small and was tucked into a sock, tied with a bow made of dried cattail leaves. It went to Hank. Hank looked dubiously at the package in his hand and tentatively brought it close to his nose for a quick sniff. Finding the smell acceptable he tore the bow and shook out the sock. A nicely carved corn cob pipe with a polished wood stem fell onto the table. Hank smiled, and plucked the pipe from table top and popped it into his mouth.

"Anyone got any smoking tobacco?" asked Hank hopefully.

Heyes piped up, "If you wait a minute, I think I have a cigar in my room you can use for the tobacco."

"Thanks, Heyes."

Heyes pushed the box of presents to Kid to finish handing out as he went to retrieve the needed cigar.

Kid brought out a thin flat item. He read the fine cursive writing on the paper and passed the package to Dutch.

Dutch tore the paper and held up a neat large square of plaid cotton, which separated into three separate squares. Dutch turned to Preacher sitting next to him.

"Thanks for the bandanas, Preacher."

Preacher held up his glass of wine in acknowledgement. "You're welcome. But how did you know they were from me?"

Dutch smiled as he tied one bandana around his neck. He held up one of the other bandanas and pointed to the edge's hem before carefully folding the remaining two up and put them in his pocket. "The stitches are small and neat and the hem along the edges is straight. No one else here has that sewing skill, not even Lobo."

Kid tossed Hognose his present. The cook eagerly caught it and proceeded to pull off what looked like the other leg of the faded discarded red long johns from the awkwardly shaped object. Everyone burst out into uncontrolled laughter.

Wheat pointed at the gift and slightly piqued stated, "It's a piggy bank. See a sow for a hog, you know Hognose, the former pig farmer."

Kid was wiping his eyes of tears, he was laughing so hard that Heyes elbowed him in the ribs to quiet it down.

Heyes got himself under control and agreed, "So it is and a pretty ingenious sow bank at that." And it was. The body was a polished sideways tin can. There were 4 nails and a small double row of short wires protruding from bottom representing legs and teats. A round wooden disc with a short corkscrewed piece of thick wire for the tail formed the access into the interior of the piggy bank from the opened end of the tin can. A smaller can sat attached at the edge of the top of the body can and was decorated with buttons and wire to form the head and face.

Hank solemnly thanked Wheat, "Thank you Wheat. The bank will come in handy. Maybe I'll start saving a little bit of my share of the take so I'm not always broke between jobs."

Wheat's look of annoyance morphed into one of smug satisfaction.

Preacher revealed a bottle encased in a basket of leather bridle straps with a long loop to hang it on something. Preacher shook the bottle. It was empty. "The lord giveth and the lord taketh away. Thank you, Sir, for the bottle holder."

"Where's mine, Kid? Where's my present," whined Kyle who could barely control his excited anticipation.

"Here, Kyle. Catch." A large bundle came soaring across the table and thudded Kyle in the chest before he cradled the object with his arms against his body. Pieces of shredded paper rapidly went off in all directions like confetti. Kyle held his present aloft proudly, a spittoon fashioned from a large tin can. The maker having taken his time to bang in and out the tin to make the classic spittoon flared shape and polished to a shine.

Heyes muttered out the side of his mouth to no one in particular as he one again grimaced at the glass sitting in from of Kyle, "Now he gets the spittoon. We should have given him the present first."

"Here Quint." Curry handed over a small neatly wrapped box. Quint peered inside the box and pulled out a jews harp made from a rounded metal belt buckle and a dried cut cane reed. The outlaw grinned and placed the homemade instrument in his mouth and started to play a tune. It sounded surprisingly good and the men started clapping in time. Kid gave a knowing look to his partner, so that was what Heyes was doing down by the stream the other day.

One gift remained.

"The last one boys before we can head over to the bunkhouse and party hardy," Curry called out.

Kid handed a slim gift, wrapped in newspaper to the leader of the Devil's Hole Gang. He watched carefully as his partner unwrapped the package, trying to gauge Heyes' initial true reaction. Heyes held up what he immediately ascertained was a finally crafted bookmark. A soft piece of 6-inch leather had been pierced along both sides as were the ace of spades and the ace of diamonds, which were sewn on along the sides with latigo, an ace on the front and back. The ends of the leather latigos were slightly longer, one longer at the top of the bookmark and the other at the bottom. Each longer end was weighted with a bullet in the center of a leather knot. Heyes now knew why his partner wouldn't divulge whose name he had drawn. Only Kid would choose to craft this as s present for him. Heyes sought his partner and held Kid's vulnerable blue eyes.

"Thank you to whoever made this for me. It's perfect. I hate bending the pages of a book and the slips of paper I use now as bookmarks keep falling out. Thanks. One man's trash is another man treasure. I know I'll treasure this."

Heyes and Kid Curry surveyed the room. The men were jovial, relaxed and enjoying oohing and aahing over thoughtful gifts made just for them by good friends.

Heyes thought it was a good omen for the hard work yet to come on the upcoming job. But he doubted the men even with soon to be had money could find presents more precious to a man's heart than the trash to treasure birthday.


End file.
